


It Suits You

by MiraculousBookworm02



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 2017! Phan, Angst, Crushes, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, M/M, Makeup, Nail Painting, Phan - Freeform, Phandom - Freeform, Slow Build, hair dying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 21:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12615640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraculousBookworm02/pseuds/MiraculousBookworm02
Summary: Phil forgot about the video for a moment and concentrated on Dan's nearly black hair, before deciding he'd be honest with his friend by sharing his opinion on it."To be honest with you Dan, I really do like your hair this colour. It suits you."





	1. Hair

"Hey Dan?"

Dan turned to face Phil, who had closed his laptop and was now focusing on him. He raised his eyebrows curiously before answering, "Yeah?"

"You know how we just did a video with you curling my hair?"

Dan smiled softly at him. "Well duh, it was only a couple of days ago. Why?"

"Well," Phil stammered, "I was thinking we could stick with that kind of theme for another video..."

Dan closed his laptop lid and smirked at Phil knowingly. "So what is this theme of yours that'll make the shippers go nuts?"

Phil couldn't suppress the light giggle that escaped his lips as he tried to tell Dan his idea. "How about we try to use beauty products or something like that?"

~

And that was how two days later, after discussing what they would do and which products they would use, they came up with three basic video ideas.

The first was to dye each other's hair. They weren't planning on dying their hair any bright colours, but their aim was to at least make the change in hair colour noticeable for a couple of weeks at least.

The second idea was to paint each other's nails. While Dan did have experience in doing his own, he'd never done somebody else's before. And that was a whole different ball game from what he'd be used to.

And the third idea was to do each other's makeup. They both knew that this video would probably end up with the largest mess and the least productivity, but they both agreed that it would be hilarious to film; considering the fact that neither of them would really know what they'd be doing.

In other words, they wouldn't be doing any of this to themselves. They'd be doing it to the other person, and would try their best to not spill any of the products on the carpet, or even on themselves.

The latter though, they both knew would be inevitable.

~

"Ok Dan, so what are we doing today?"

Phil knew exactly what they were doing in that video. But the audience didn't. Or they did, because of the title of the video.

They were just going to roll with it.

"Today, we are going to-" Dan paused for the drumroll he would edit in later, "dye our hair! You know why, Phil?"

"No, why?"

"Because the last video made every Phangirl scream in delight, so why the fuck not do it again!"

Knowing he'd zoom up on his face later when he was editing, he muttered to himself, "What has my life come to?"

"Anyways!" Phil interrupted the silence that had settled between them. "We bought two hair dyes, which are natural hair colours by the way."

Dan sighed to himself. "Yeah, I don't exactly want my hair to be as green as Jacksepticeye's."

Phil turned to face Dan and looked him dead in the eye. "He literally looks like a field of grass sometimes, it's that bright."

Dan twisted his body around and grabbed a bag off the floor with all of the hair products in it.

"So, because we're giant nerds," Dan started, "we actually bought expensive dyes that'll last for a good couple of weeks before they start to fade. So whatever colour we dye our hair right now will remain the same for the next couple of videos."

"We're also crossing our fingers that the colours even show in our hair in the first place! I mean, we're not exactly professionals."

Dan shoved his hand into the bag to pull out the different dyes. "I'm sure we'll be fine! How hard can it be?"

"Dan," Phil warned.

"Yeah, you're right. Knowing us, we'll manage to spill it all on the carpet before it reaches our fringes."

"It's just who we are! What colours have you got there Dan?"

Dan faced the camera once more and held out the first bottle. "Ok, so this here is a very dark brown, almost black to be honest, which of course is the colour we're dying my hair."

"And the other one," Phil said as Dan handed him a light brown dye, "is going to be used on me."

Dan smirked to the camera, but made sure Phil couldn't see whatever he was secretly showing the audience in the bag. Phil, so far, wasn't even aware that he had it.

"Ok, so who should go first?" Phil asked, genuinely curious as to how they were going to do this.

"Well I think you should do me first, be-"

His face dropped as he realised what he'd just said. Phil grinned at Dan's mortified expression, and couldn't help the small laugh that escaped his lips as Dan stared off into the distance.

"Do NOT take that out of context, people! Context matters!"

He faced Phil again, and saw the beaming smile that was plastered across his face.

"Are you done laughing at me?"

Phil didn't suppress the cackle that made its way up his throat as he heard Dan's question that was dripping with sarcasm. Dan, in turn, smiled gently at Phil and tried to continue on with the video.

"It's going to be a long day."

"Back to the hair dying!" Phil reminded him.

Dan cursed and smiled awkwardly at the camera. "God, I get so off topic so easily I actually forget we're filming a video sometimes."

He paused to remember what he was talking about earlier before continuing off from where he'd left the conversation. "My hair I think should be dyed first because, well, it's not already dyed like yours. It'll probably be easier to do."

Phil nodded in agreement and gently took the bottle out of his hand, their fingers touching slightly as Dan gave him the dye. Phil began reading the instructions out loud as soon as he found them.

"Step 1: Ensure hair is damp before applying dye to roots."

"Ok, I'll get some water then!"

Dan left the room for a moment to fill a cup up with tap water while Phil read the rest of the instructions to himself. He skimmed his eyes over the other bottle too just to make sure they had the same set of steps before Dan re-entered Phil's bedroom.

"Let's try not to spill the water everywhere like the pastel edits irl video, ok Phil?"

Phil smiled to himself and sheepishly looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry that I don't have any drip control!"

"I'm sure you are," Dan said disbelievingly.

He placed the cup on Phil's bedside drawer and dunked his fingers in the water before running his hands through his curly brown locks. After doing this a few times, he turned to face Phil again and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Damp enough?"

"Yep, I'd say so."

"Alright, now for the messy shit!"

Just as Dan said that, he heard the popping of a lid as Phil opened the bottle and smirked at the camera creepily.

"Phil, never do that again."

Phil dropped the act and laughed at his bad acting skills, before proceeding to pour some of the dye into his hands.

"Wait wait wait, Phil."

"What?" he asked, his hands already covered in the dark liquid.

"You read the instructions, right?"

Phil sighed aloud and replied with a slightly exasperated tone. "Yes, I did."

"Well, aren't you supposed to wear those gloves over there while putting the dye in my hair?"

Dan could visibly see the realisation in Phil's eyes as he caught on to his mistake.

"Oh, you're right!"

He stood up immediately to visit the bathroom but didn't appear as if he was trying to not drop any of it on the carpet.

"Phil, watch your drip control!" Dan shouted in panic as he watched his friend exit the room.

He heard an "Ahhh!" from the general direction of the bathroom, and assumed the worst had somehow managed to happen to Phil. Then again, he didn't expect any less.

When he finally returned two minutes later, he could have sworn Phil's hands had a black tinge to them; as if they'd been stained by the hair dye's chemicals.

"You good now, Phil?" Dan taunted him playfully. "Had enough mischief causing for one day?"

Phil giggled at his own idiocy and showed his hands to the audience.

"You see these hands? This is what happens when you do a Phil."

He proceeded to put on the gloves while Dan stared at him, Phil completely oblivious as to what Dan was on about.

"What?"

He poured some of the dye on to his now gloved hands and reached out to put it through Dan's hair, who was sitting a metre away from him.

"You said, 'Do a Phil'. Do you not see anything wrong with that?"

"Oh. OH. I'm sorry! I meant it, as in, you know..."

"Yes Phil, we all know what you meant."

Phil smiled awkwardly at Dan as he leant in closer to get better access to his hair.

"Ok, here we go. Got your towel?"

"Oh yeah, give me a sec." Dan grabbed a small towel he'd placed on the bed earlier and put it over his shoulders so that if the dye did drip out of his hair, it wouldn't damage his clothes.

"Ready."

"Ok, here we go!"

And with that, Phil put his hands in Dan's hair and tugged gently at the locks. The dye seeped through the strands of hair and covered the fringe within seconds, which was not at all expected by either of them.

They'd both thought this would be a long and slow process.

Phil moved closer to Dan so he could work his way through his friend's dense hair easier. Dan didn't comment on it, and instead immersed himself in the moment.

It was calming, having somebody run their hand through his hair. The way Phil's fingers occasionally touched his skin, and the slight tugging sensation soothed him somehow. It was a comforting action, he decided.

He liked it, but would probably hate to admit how much he actually enjoyed it.

He soon realised neither of them had been talking for the past few minutes. He'd probably have to fast forward through this part of this video when he was editing to get to the interesting bit, but he didn't mind doing that.

It would all be worth it anyways.

"Ok Dan, I think you're good to go."

"How long do I have to wait until I have to wash it out?"

"It says here," Phil stated while skimming through the instructions on the bottle, "that after 15 minutes, you need to wash it out."

"That's enough time to get you done, isn't it?"

"Should be," Phil agreed.

Dan brought the bag holding the mysterious item to his knees while looking innocently at Phil, who was busy pushing the lid down on to the bottle of dye they'd used for Phil's hair.  
"Ok Phil, have you wet your hair?"

Phil quickly popped the lid onto the bottle and dunked his hand into the water to dampen his hair as Dan had asked.

What he didn't notice as he did this, however, was the hair product in Dan's bag.

"Let's get stuck into this then!" Dan announced as he switched Phil's normal dye with another one. Phil was still completely oblivious to the change in products.

Dan squirted some of the dye on to his gloved hands and lifted them to Phil's face before ruffling the tufts of hair that covered his forehead. He remembered how pleasant it had been to have Phil's fingers ghost over his sensitive skin, so he made sure to do that every so often as he massaged the dye into his scalp.

Phil had the daintiest smile on his face as Dan continued to rub in the dye. It was one of inner peace, as if he'd found his happy place. A blissful moment was shared between them, when the only sounds that could be heard were the repetitive patterns of breath and the occasional ruffle of bedsheets. And for a moment, Dan wondered if he'd had the same expression on his face when Phil had tousled his own brown locks.

He hadn't even noticed it, but their legs were now touching, and their thighs were gently pressing up against each other. Had they done that consciously? Or was it just something that had occurred with no meaning behind it?

Dan realised he was questioning their actions too quickly. Their legs were only touching, it's not like that automatically meant you were in love or anything.

"Dan, I think that's enough dye. My hair isn't as thick as yours."

"That's what she said," Dan murmured as he winked at the camera.

Phil could only scowl playfully at Dan's comment as he peeled the gloves off of his hands and pulled the towel off of Phil's shoulders. He placed the towel at the end of Phil's bed and dumped the dirty gloves on top of it before facing Phil with a look that screamed boredom.

"So, what now?"

"Now, we wait another four minutes."

"Ugh, that's so long."

"I'm sure you'll survive!"

~

Dan and Phil stood outside of the frame in order to make a 'grand entrance' with their newly dyed hair, which they had promised not to talk to each other about until they were in front of the camera recording their own reactions.

They both thought the video would be more entertaining to watch if their reactions to their changed hair colours were genuine rather than rehearsed.

"You ready Phil?"

"Sure am Dan!"

"3, 2, 1... Ta-da!"

Dan and Phil both sat down on the bed together, revealing their newly dyed hair at the exact same time as each other. They took this opportunity to properly examine the other's current hair colour.

When Phil laid eyes on Dan's hair, he didn't expect the difference to be so large. It was an incredibly dark chocolate colour, almost the same black Phil had previously dyed his own. But he didn't think that the change in colour would bring out his eyes, or highlight his cheekbones. It did wonders to Dan's face, and Phil had the alarming thought of Dan keeping his hair like this, just because he liked it.

Phil's hair was a completely different story. Dan had added practically the entire bottle of dye to Phil's hair so it would hopefully show through the artificial black, and while it did show, it wasn't extremely visible through the black roots and clumps of fringe.

"Ok Phil," Dan started with an expression that silently said 'please don't hate me', "I don't want you to be mad, but I didn't dye your hair the light brown we got for you."

Phil's face dropped in surprise as he ruffled his now dry hair. "What?"

"I-I might have dyed it back to your natural hair colour... Or at least, tried to."

With those words, Phil sprung from his bed and rushed to his set of drawers to find a handheld mirror so he could see what Dan was talking about. When he did find one, he immediately held it up to his face so he could see his newly coloured hair.

"Oh my God..." Phil exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his fringe. "What have you done?"

"I've gotten my revenge for all those pranks you've pulled on me this year. Haha sucker! Now you know what it's like to be humiliated on the internet!"

Phil's hair was a mess of ginger strands and black splotches. In places, specifically around the fringe, his hair was mostly red, but the back of his head and all of the roots had remained completely black; save for a few patches of ginger where the dye had somehow miraculously worked.

"And the best thing about this whole ordeal," Dan smiled maliciously, "is that your hair will stay like that for weeks."

Before Phil could interrupt him, Dan answered the question he psychologically knew Phil was about to ask. "And no, you cannot dye it back anytime soon."

Phil was in absolute disbelief at the situation he had managed to get himself into. "Well, this'll be fun..."

"Sure will be for me! Now give me the mirror so I can check myself out."

Dan practically snatched the mirror out of Phil's hand and pretended to be a model for the camera with exaggerated poses and pouted lips on every angle.

"I actually can't tell the difference. It's literally just my hair, but darker. Oh well..."

Phil forgot about the video for a moment and concentrated on Dan's nearly black hair, before deciding he'd be honest with his friend by sharing his opinion on it.

"To be honest with you Dan, I really do like your hair this colour. It suits you."

Dan hadn't been expecting the video to end on that note. It was so unlike them to compliment each other's appearance before finishing a video; they may as well have been handing Phan evidence to their shippers if they did so. So Dan tried to casually brush off the sweet remark.

"Thanks, but I don't think I'm going to keep it." He looked back at the audience. "Sorry guys! I like my normal hair and I think I'll just stick with what I know for now."

Phil recognised the slight denial in Dan's tone but didn't comment on it. Instead, he remained silent until they began filming the conclusion to the video, and as soon as the camera was off he turned away from Dan.

"Why'd you say that?" Phil asked, somewhat disappointed that he'd acted that way because of their audience.

"Well, I don't want there to be more shipping material Demon Phans could use as proof that we're together. It's just really annoying sometimes how they shove that kind of shit in our faces."

Phil did agree with him on that. The 'stalkers' and 'Phan proof' videos were becoming a bit too much to deal with, as they appeared to be absolutely everywhere, no matter the circumstances. Any video they posted nowadays had at least one slightly creepy remark liked by hundreds of people in the top comments section.

"Yeah, I get it. But what other people say shouldn't dictate what you say and how you act around me."

Dan felt a light heat in his cheeks and looked away quickly before Phil could notice. "You're frickin' right, dammit."

"Of course I am! Now come on, we need to get dinner started."

Smiling to himself as Phil exited his room, Dan followed soon after when he was sure that the pink tint to his cheeks had completely faded away. He didn't need Phil to be making any assumptions, after all.


	2. Nails

"So Phil," Dan started, eyeballing the camera with knowing eyes, "what are we doing today?"

"Ok, so today..." Phil reached down to grab a plastic bag at his feet, "we're painting each other's nails!"

Dan looked between Phil and the bag of nail polish before sighing at the content they were now creating for their main channels. "Why are we doing this?"

"Because why not? It seems fun!"

Dan rolled his eyes at Phil's idea of fun, and grabbed a random nail polish colour from the bag Phil was holding up for the audience. It was black, ironically, but for the first time in ages Dan felt like deviating from his usual attire.

"What other colours have you got in there Philly?"

"Ok, so for my nails I couldn't choose between this sky blue-" he held up a small bottle of nail polish, "and this purple one."

Admiring the beautiful colours Phil had chosen, Dan then had a sudden realisation and blurted it out without thinking about his words.

"The blue matches your eyes, Phil. Look."

He gently took the nail polish out of Phil's hand and held it up to his eyes, where he compared the two colours and thought about how well they worked together.

Wait, no. He couldn't be thinking that now. They were filming a video.

"It suits you, just saying," Dan commented as he lowered his hand and the nail polish from Phil's face.

"O-Ok, what about the purple?" Phil replied somewhat shakily.

Dan took a moment to look at the purple, which he had kind of neglected while admiring the stunning blue competitor.

It was a pastel purple, one that he could imagine as a blooming lavender, or one of the last streaks of colour a rainbow had as it faded in the sky. It was quite a pretty colour, Dan decided, but he still preferred the blue.

"I think you should stick with the sky blue, honestly."

Phil smiled at Dan's decision and swept a piece of his fringe aside, ginger still smeared through the normal black of his hair. They'd dyed their hair together a bit over a week ago now, but the colours still remained clear as day; it was as if the dye had only been applied earlier that day. And Phil couldn't wait for his to fade away.

"Ok," Phil agreed. "And we'll do the black for you, obviously."

But if Dan was honest with himself, he didn't actually want the black. It's not that he didn't like the colour, but the soft vibrancy of the lilac slightly enticed him. He looked back at the pastel purple bottle of nail polish and gnawed on his lip uncertainly. They probably should just get on with the video, but for once Dan wanted to try something new; something different from what was typically him.

"I think I'm going to go for the purple actually."

"Oh, really? I thought you'd want the black to match your soul," Phil referenced, a smile creeping up the corner of his lips.

"Well y-yeah, I get that," Dan chuckled. "But I've already had black nails, remember? I think I'm going to give the purple a shot this time."

And so with that, Dan carelessly picked up the black nail polish and threw it over his shoulder, but heard a bang when it hit something and fell to the floor.

"Fuck," Dan cursed while Phil looked over to see what had fallen.

"Dan, there's a black mark on the wall."

Dan's face paled as he twisted his body around to survey the damage, and was shocked to see that Phil was right. A small splatter of black nail polish could be seen on the wall opposite them, and it just so happened to be out of view of the camera.

"Are you fucking kidding me. You've got to be shitting me right now."

Walking over to the spot with Phil by his side, they observed the result of Dan's actions with looks of regret.

"Why did we agree to do this?" Dan moaned off-camera as he picked at the nail polish that was already drying on the wall.

"I don't even know anymore, but we have to keep going!"

"And leave it like this?!"

Phil huffed as he took out his phone to record the damage for the audience watching.

"Look at this!" Dan griped as he picked at the black mark on the wall. "I doubt it's going away soon..."

Dan faced the camera and smiled a miserable smile that matched his eyes wholeheartedly while Phil talked to him. "But hey, it wouldn't be a Dan and Phil video if something didn't go wrong!"

"Yeah, that much is true..."

"Come on," Phil encouraged, moving back to his bed. "Let's get back to Dan and Phil's Spa and finis- what?!"

Dan looked at Phil in disbelief of what he'd just said, but was smiling broadly nonetheless at Phil's innocent comment. Phil then returned the expression, with a light that brightened his eyes whenever he looked at Dan a certain way. The audience, however, could only assume that as Dan was still off-camera, and next to the black mark on the wall.

"Do I add that to the list of things I should never say again?"

Dan made his way back to Phil's bed and plonked himself down next to Phil, who he then accidentally brushed up against as he sat down beside him. It wasn't unusual that they'd touch each other during videos; it was just becoming more and more obvious to Dan how often they did.

He pretended to be unaware of the arm that was practically on his lap as he talked to the camera, but responded to Phil's question. "It's not that you said anything wrong, it was just... I-I guess... You know what, fuck it. Welcome to Dan and Phil's Spa everybody! Where you can get a manicure for free if you subscribe to all of our channels!"

Phil giggled uncontrollably while Dan grinned at his own stupid joke and attempted to continue on with the video before they got too sidetracked.

"Now Phil, have you got hand towels? 'Cause I don't want to make more of a mess in your room than we already have."

"Ah, yes we do!" Phil announced, far too excitable for his own good. He reached out to the ground below him and pulled up two relatively small towels for placing their hands on as they painted their nails.

"Ta-da! They're even fluffy, feel!"

Phil abruptly held up the towel tentatively, only realising after he had raised it to meet Dan's face that he had left it hovering a centimetre away from his friend's cheek. Dan hadn't been expecting him to do that at all, so he tried his best to make his movements natural as he leant his head towards the piece of cotton and felt the towel brush against his skin.

He didn't even know what he was doing anymore. He glanced between the camera and the towel that was still pressed up against his face before clearing his throat to grab Phil's attention.

"Oops, um, sorry! I kind of just shoved it in your face then, didn't I?" Phil admitted as he dropped his hand with the tiny towel from Dan's face; Dan not willing to admit how soft the item actually was.

"It's fine Phil! At least you didn't shove it in my eye."

Dan failed to notice the shy smile Phil produced as he lowered his gaze to the ground. He wasn't sure if their audience could still see his expression, as a feint blush had unfortunately made itself apparent on his cheeks. To make it worse, the action was unwanted by Phil; so he desperately waited for the pink to fade from his face as Dan continued talking.

"Now I'm going to paint your nails first because I have the experience, ok? I kind of know what I'm doing..."

Phil heard Dan indiscreetly mutter to himself "Not really" before he reached out to grab the blue bottle of nail polish that he was going to use on Phil.

"Ok, give me your hand."

It was an innocent request. There was no hidden meaning behind the words, but Phil couldn't help analysing Dan's speech; as if it would reveal something within his dialogue that wasn't obviously there. He raised his right hand and held it out for Dan to manoeuvre, but he wasn't expecting the tingle that made its way up his arm as Dan grasped his hand delicately and moved it on to the hand towel.

Phil tried to avoid looking Dan in the eye as he separated his fingers to make it easier for him to paint his nails.

"Have you ever painted your nails before, Phil?"

He hadn't really noticed it before, but Dan's voice grabbed his attention quicker than any other's. Phil assumed it was probably just due to how accustomed he had become towards it, but he didn't really believe that to be the only reason Dan's voice could drag him so quickly out of his own little world.

Maybe it was because he genuinely wanted to listen to Dan's soothing voice?

Phil blinked, hard, and returned back to reality to answer Dan's question. "Oh, um, no. I haven't..."

"Well," Dan exclaimed, joy lacing his words, "I'm about to change that. You ready Phil?"

"Yep!" he replied, his usual cheery attitude returning to his tone. "As ready as I'll ever be!"

Dan screwed the lid of the nail polish off and held the brush up for the audience to see. "Check it out, guys. It actually looks like a good colour."

Then, he looked down at Phil's hand and started painting the first nail; the thumb.

Phil honestly didn't know what to expect from this experience. Possibly some awkwardness between the two, maybe some giggles at how bad they'd painted each other's nails, but he definitely did not expect to feel excited for the final product. He hadn't thought he would be this enthusiastic about painting nails, but the broad smile that was slowly spreading across his face told a different story. He glanced back up at Dan, and saw a similar expression mirrored on his features.

"Dan, you're actually doing a really good job! !"

Dan gave the camera a look that said 'obviously', then returned to painting Phil's nails a sky blue that matched the heavens. "Did you ever doubt me and my nail-painting skills?!" Dan exaggerated a gasp. "Phil, I'm offended!"

Phil giggled, an action that triggered movement throughout his entire body, which in turn caused the small brush to paint Phil's fingertips rather than his nails.

"Stop! Stop laughing, Phil! You're ruining my good work!"

Attempting to control himself, Phil took in a deep breath and returned to a calm state. He looked down at the splotches of blue that covered his fingers, and smiled.

"Dan, what did you expect? It's not like we could have done this perfectly."

Phil could have sworn Dan rolled his eyes playfully at him. "Well, yeah, but everything was going perfectly! I was doing a bloody fantastic job at painting your nails, and now it looks like you've done your own."

"Hey!" Phil retaliated, attempting to look insulted. "I can paint people's nails properly!"

Dan continued painting the rest of Phil's nails, and responded to him sarcastically. "I'm sure you can! People are literally willing to pay money for you to paint their nails, you're that good."

Phil sighed aloud and gave Dan a small grin. "I'm being serious! I bet I can do yours better than you can do mine."

Dan paused. "What are you saying, Phil?"

"W-What I'm saying," Phil started, a chuckle rising up his throat, "is that we should see how well we can-"

"Ayyyyyy!" Dan cut him off, a wide smile lighting up his entire being as he held up finger guns. "Phil!"

Phil, however, looked between the camera and Dan; unsure of what he'd done to get that kind of reaction out of his roommate.

"What did I do?"

Dan's once genuine grin was now being held in place with dead eyes. "How well, Phil. Howell."

Confusion was immediately replaced with humour as Phil laughed at his own stupidity. "How did I not get that?"

Dan shook his head and held his hands over his face in shame as Phil continued giggling. "I have no idea, Phil. I honesty have no idea."

Phil finally tore his eyes away from Dan and looked around the room quickly. There was a camera, set up directly in front of him, that he'd completely forgotten about in the space of five seconds. How he'd done that while they were filming a video, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he'd been having far too much fun messing around with his friend to notice the tripod set up two metres away.

A friend. Was that really all Dan was to him? Well, yes, of course it was! What else could he be? Surely friends could dye each other's hair, and compliment their appearance. Friends could have playful arguments, and insult one another without actually being offensive.

But... do friends get a warm, tingly feeling whenever they touched?

He didn't know. And he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

Phil was pulled out of his questioning thoughts when Dan began speaking again,

"Look, I'm gonna be honest with you," Dan started as Phil showed his sky blue nails to their audience. "Your nails aren't as pretty as I'd hoped they would be by the end of this, but I'm blaming you wholeheartedly for vigorously moving around while I was trying to paint them."

"Oh gee, thanks!" Phil replied, failing miserably at being sarcastic.

Dan's lips curled into a bittersweet smile as he handed Phil the light purple nail polish bottle.

"No problem! Now Phil," Dan suddenly asked semi-seriously, reaching an arm out to hold Phil's shoulder, "are you really ready to paint my nails? Or do I need to cover myself in a towel to prevent you from having any 'accidents'?"

Phil cracked a smile but quickly straightened it in order to control the laughter bubbling in his soul. "N-No, I think I'll surprise you with my nail-painting techniques."

As Phil opened the bottle, Dan watched on with a confused expression. "There's a technique to painting nails? Bullshit!"

"I'm not lying!" Phil retaliated, looking up at the camera to connect with his fans. 'Look it up, it's a thing."

Dan's expression was of nothing except complete and utter disbelief as Phil held up the nail polish brush for the camera to see. "Ok, but I'm not trusting your word again after the whole 'Banana Fortune Telling' ordeal. Like, I thought there was something fishy about the whole thing while we were doing it, but then again you said it was Australian... So I didn't really question it that much afterwards."

Phil smiled gently at him, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so. "You're probably offending Australian's by saying that."

"Oh well, oops! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make fun of your weird customs, it just happened."

Phil laughed quietly at Dan's horrible apology and looked into the camera lens again. Since he had forgotten about their viewers earlier, he had decided to pay extra attention to their fans as they recorded the video. "You're a beautiful place, Australia. You've got beautiful people, too."

Dan pretended to vomit at Phil's kindness and then put his hand on the small towel they'd used for painting Phil's nails, which had a surprising amount of blue paint on it.

"Wow, I really did waste a lot of nail polish, didn't I?"

"Well- yes, but it doesn't really matter! After all, we're only using it for this video."

The corners of Dan's mouth dropped slightly. "Yeah."

Phil picked up on something in Dan's attitude that told him something wasn't quite right, but he brushed the worry off for later for when he could properly talk to Dan about it. They were in the middle of filming a video, so having a personal discussion right then and there was probably not the best idea.

"Which hand should I start on?" Phil asked curiously, trying to cease the tension in the room.

Dan, understanding the meaning behind his words, returned to his usual self in a matter of milliseconds to continue filming the cheery video. "Just do my right hand first, since it's already good to go."

Phil nodded in agreement and finally connected the brush to Dan's nails, the paint colouring them brightly and breathing life into his fingers. He used soft, gentle strokes to cover the surface, and added multiple layers of the polish to ensure that it would not chip away easily later. All in all, he was doing an excellent job.

"Ok, Phil, how are you so good at this?!" Dan just about screamed in shock when Phil started painting the next hand, his dimple even more obvious than usual due to his enthralled state.

Phil, in reply, giggled to himself and added more paint to the tip of the brush. "I have no clue. I was actually lying about the nail-painting techniques."

A wide, knowing grin spread across Dan's face as he pointed at Phil with his other hand. "I knew you were lying! Haha, bitch!"

Suppressing the urge to stare at Dan's lips while they created a joyful cackle, Phil continued to paint the last few nails on Dan's left hand as his roommate jeered at him lightheartedly.

"So, h-how close are you to finishing?" Dan asked after his laughing fit had finally ceased.

"Nearly there..." Phil announced as he painted one last coat on Dan's pinkie. "Ok, I'm done!"

Dan delicately lifted his hands up and examined them thoughtfully, a look of complete and utter amazement appearing on his face. His eyes crinkled slightly in happiness as he gazed at the stunning pastel purple his nails had now become. Phil's ability to paint his nails put his own skills to shame.

"Phil Lester! These are beautiful!" Dan exclaimed with such genuine enthusiasm that Phil felt his cheeks heat up for the second time in that video. He quickly looked down, trying to appear as if he was just bashful about the comment rather than embarrassingly happy, and fiddled with his hands nervously as Dan continued admiring his work.

"Thanks," Phil replied with a softness in his tone that usually wasn't there.

Dan didn't seem to notice the slight difference in pitch, but if he did, he didn't mention it. "God, now I feel horrible for doing yours so badly..."

Realising he was still looking down at the floor, Phil looked up at the camera and reminded himself to do that more often until the end of the video. He seemed to have somehow forgotten, yet again, that they were recording a video. What was with him today?

"H-Hey, don't worry about it!" Phil reassured him, mentally slapping himself in the face for stuttering a three letter word. "That was my own fault, anyway. I shouldn't have been having this much fun painting my best friend's nails."

There was something about that last sentence that bugged Phil after he'd said it. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, and he didn't have time to analyse that feeling before he had to return his attention to the video they were currently recording.

"Yeah, I agree! And to be honest that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be."

Phil knew that they always did this whenever they collaborated, but this time it was... different. Their eyes locked on to each other, but unlike what they would normally do after a few seconds, they stayed there. Gazing into each other's orbs, one person discovering the rings of yellow within the blue, and the other exploring the murky depths of the chocolate brown. Phil imagined his own heart pounding, his breath stalling, his lips-

Wait wait wait, what? Where had that thought come from? Phil blinked, harshly, to rid that fantasy from his mind; Dan appearing to come out of whatever trance he had just been in with that single action. They both appeared to realise what they were doing, and awkwardly turned away from each other at the exact same time to face the camera.

They pretended that moment had never happened until they'd finished recording the conclusion to the video, and even then they both seemed to be at a loss for words. Phil had even managed to forget about Dan's sudden change in attitude halfway through the video, which wasn't the first thing he'd failed to recall through the course of the video due to his mind being focussed on more important... things.

"So, um... You want to get d-dinner started now?" Phil asked, cursing himself mentally for yet again stuffing up such a simple sentence.

Dan, coming to the conclusion that they would just try to go on with their normal lives and ignore whatever had just happened between them, nodded. "Yeah, sure thing."

And so with that, the two of them left the room and headed off to the kitchen to make themselves a meal; both of them having a million unanswered questions running through their minds.


	3. Makeup

Dan and Phil decided to film the last video in their trilogy of beauty-inspired posts only three days after the last one had been uploaded; the reason for this being that they were afraid of the nail polish chipping away after a certain period of time. And unfortunately for Dan, his nails were already cracked and faded.

But this didn't stop them from recording the finale to their mini-series.

"Hi guys!" Phil greeted as he waved enthusiastically at the camera; ginger still smeared through his hair as if someone had flicked paint onto it.

"So, most of you are probably going to freak out about this video, because you've been asking for it for ages..." Phil started, turning to face Dan for him to finish the sentence.

"And we've finally agreed to do it! Because you're such a supportive, encouraging audience."

Dan's smile was clearly fake as he pretended to agree with what he'd said. But Phil's, however, was genuine as he picked up on the sarcasm.

"Anyway, today we're going to..." he paused for a moment to tease his audience before announcing, "Do each other's makeup!"

They could both hear the nonexistent gasps of fans when Phil said this, but then they realised that the title of the video would have explained everything already; basically, the introduction was pointless. But that didn't really matter to either of them, as they continued recording despite their own stupidity.

"I wouldn't be surprised if a fangirl just had a heart attack because of that announcement," Dan commented as he stared at the camera, hoping to connect with his audience through the action.

Phil's giggle was barely audible as he reached down to his feet to grab a clear plastic bag, that contained all of the items they'd need for the video they were about to record. Dan brought his attention to this rather large bag, and bit his lip discretely when he saw some of the products inside.

"Okay, so the makeup we're using today is..." Phil hesitated saying each product's name until he pulled them out of the bag for the audience to see. "Liquid foundation, eye primer, eyeshadow, eyeliner, liquid eyeliner, mascara, lipgloss, lipstick, a bronzer, a highlighter and a blush!"

Dan couldn't help but gape at Phil as he placed each product on the bed behind them.

"Did you really buy this much makeup for one use? Phil, I told you not to go full out like the pastel edits irl video!"

Phil knew Dan wasn't being serious due to the cheeky smile that demanded his attention from the moment it appeared on his face. It took all of Phil's willpower not to stare at his brilliant smile, and he pretended to busy himself with the cosmetics as Dan's contagious laugh echoed off the walls of the room.

"We-!" Dan started, but was interrupted by his own cackle. "W-We could have bought the entire store with the amount of money you've spent on these products!"

Seemingly unable to control his emotions, Dan continued to laugh in a high pitched tone that was so fascinating to watch in Phil's opinion. The way his eyes crinkled in happiness as his whole frame moved with the laugh, and the way the dimple in his cheek would showed itself whenever Dan was truly enjoying himself inclined Phil to stare at him for eternity. But he didn't, because... he couldn't let his 'feelings', or whatever they were, become too obvious. There was a camera set up only two metres away from him.

So, with much reluctance, Phil looked down at the ground and tapped his fingers patiently on his leg, waiting for Dan's laughing fit to finish so that they could get on with filming the video. He wasn't irritated that Dan was having a good time; he just wished that he could, too, without revealing anything to Dan that he wasn't even sure about himself.

"O-kay, okay," Dan said as he finally calmed himself. "I have literally no idea how any of this works, so that means Phil can go first and I'll learn from his mistakes!"

He pushed his confused feelings aside for a moment and grinned at the small detail Dan seemed to have overlooked. Phil grabbed the first product he was going to use and tried to remember how to properly apply it to one's face without making a mess of their features.

"You realise that if I go first, the mistakes that you'll learn from will be on your face, right?"

Dan smirked and stared at the camera as he replied to Phil's comment. "Does Dan care? Nooo!"

Phil snickered somewhat childishly at Dan's sassy answer, and opened the lid to the liquid foundation he'd bought for the video. "Ok, so, no joke, I had to go through four different brands to find a shade of foundation that was pale enough for our skin. Four. Different. Brands."

Dan appeared to be quite shocked by this statistic. "Really?! Four different brands just to find this shade?"

"Yep," Phil replied, showing the medium-sized bottle to their audience. "I always knew we were secretly vampires..."

Looking at the near white liquid foundation, Dan realised the possible consequences of Phil's words and made sure to tell Phil what they were. "You do realise that everyone's going to be writing fanfiction about you being a vampire now, right?"

It took Phil a moment to realise where Dan was coming from, but when he did Phil smiled knowingly after having realised the flaw in Dan's logic. "But didn't you write a fanfic with me as a vampire for TABINOF?"

The grin that was once plastered on Dan's face had now dropped to a neutral expression of defeat. "Oh yeah... Sorry about that by the way."

"It's no problem!" Phil replied cheerfully. "You certainly weren't the first to kill me off in a fanfic."

Although the way Phil had said it wasn't saddening, the context of what he was talking about made Dan consider how his friend really felt about the whole ordeal. He played it off as a joke, but what if he felt differently? Phil was always so optimistic and positive in front of a camera; what was he like when there was just him and his thoughts?

Dan decided to leave the topic for another time. After all, he was slightly concerned that Phil wasn't telling him everything, whether it was his opinion on the Phandom's fanfictions or something else. One thing Dan knew for sure was, something was going on with Phil lately.

He just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

Remembering that he and Phil had been having a conversation a few moments ago, Dan returned his full attention to Phil and watched as his friend squirted a small amount of liquid foundation onto the palm of his hand.

"Ok Danny, you ready?"

Cringing slightly at the nickname, Dan nodded his head and looked at the camera. "Yeah, probably. I can't really prepare for this thoug-"

"Here we go!"

Phil abruptly raised his right hand to Dan's face and brushed the fingers that were covered with liquid foundation over his skin, pretending to feel indifferent about the action itself. He continued doing this for a few seconds before he realised that Dan hadn't spoken at all, which was so unlike him in this kind of situation that Phil felt pressured to ask him what was wrong.

"Dan? Am I doing something wrong?"

It was only then that he realised Dan had his shoulders raised in questioning, and that his eyes were closed, almost in secret mockery. There was a slight smile forming on Dan's features as he slowly opened his eyes in disbelief of what Phil and just been doing.

"Phil, I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

Feeling a small blush erupting on his cheeks, Phil quickly looked away from Dan as he continued speaking.

"You don't just rub the foundation on me with your fingers, you need to use a beauty blender, you spork!"

Phil suddenly broke out in a fit of adorable giggles as he figured out what he'd done completely wrong; not that this was unexpected in any way, as he was Phil Lester after all.

"Well I'm getting a serious sense of déjà vu from the first video in this 'series', as I'm now off to the bathroom to clean my hands from goopy stuff again!"

And with that, Phil strode off to their nearest sink in order to remove the foundation from his skin as Dan grinned to himself in front of the camera. Of course Phil would make the same mistake twice.

When Phil returned about a minute later, Dan had already removed the beauty blender from its packaging and had placed it on the bed next to the liquid foundation; pale smears of colour apparent on Dan's face as he hadn't bothered to rub it in yet.

"Ok Phil, do you know how this works? Or do I need to show you a whole different side of YouTube for you to understand how to use makeup?"

"Hey! I know I have no experience in makeup, but you can hardly call yourself a beauty-guru, Daniel."

Dan remained spitefully silent as Phil snickered to himself at his alright comeback; it wasn't everyday that Phil could actually respond with a witty remark whenever Dan teased him.

Grabbing the beauty blender, Phil slowly raised it to Dan's face; learning from last time that it was best to approach Dan's personal space gradually instead of abruptly in order to avoid awkward moments from occurring between them. It was satisfying, Phil decided, to watch the liquid foundation smooth out across Dan's skin, but he made sure to busy himself with spreading it around his face evenly so that he couldn't be caught staring at his friend.

Phil still didn't even know if the word 'friend' covered the strange and unwanted feelings that were now churning inside of him.

"Ok Dan," Phil said as he dabbed the last bit of foundation onto his forehead. "You're all good for the next stage of your transformation!"

While Phil went through the various products on the bed, Dan mulled over Phil's words before replying to his statement; a thoughtful expression crossing his face as he did so.

"Is it really a transformation though? Like, you're only enhancing my appearance- well, at least I hope you're enhancing my appearance- but it's not like I'm turning into a Titan or anything."

Half-smiling at the reference Dan had managed to squeeze into his argument, Phil finally decided to use the bronzer next for Dan's makeover. "Well, you're right about the Titan, but I'm making you beautiful now Dan! I think that's a transformation in itself."

Dan pretended to be offended and opened his mouth wide in a state of utter shock. "Are you saying that I'm not pretty, Phil? How could you!"

Exaggerated sobs broke out through the room as Dan over-dramatically fanned himself, his moment of 'hurt' beginning to come to a close.

"You good now Dan?"

"Yep. What's next on the list?"

Phil held up the bronzer so that the camera could see the product. "I'm going to bronze your cheeks up mate!"

Then Phil popped open the lid of the bronzer quickly, hoping to appear professional, but some of the contents of the container spilled out all over Phil's pants and onto the bedsheets underneath him.

"Phil! You had one job!"

"I'm sorry!" Phil apologised, brushing the powder off of his pants and onto the sheets that were now probably stained by the chemicals.

And while Phil attempted to clean up the mess he had made, Dan was howling with laughter at the situation and Phil's misfortune. After a couple of seconds, he began to help his flatmate remove the bronzer from the bedsheets by scooping up the dusty substance and placing it back into the compact container. It was obvious that they would edit this bit out, so silence filled the room for an indefinite amount of time.

That was until their hands touched.

It was a gentle brush, nothing special, but both boys had a different reaction to it that was somewhat unusual for their characters. Dan pulled his hand back a bit, slightly embarrassed by the action, whereas Phil's hand tensed up when it came into contact with Dan's and stayed put, just hovering in the air. A couple of moments of awkward silence passed between them, and Dan was the first to react by chuckling quietly to himself at the occurrence, even though it was clear there was no humour in his laugh.

Phil almost had no reaction at all, as he was harbouring his thoughts inside his head, and he was adamant to keep his weird feelings hidden in there too.

"So, bronzer next!" Phil abruptly announced, trying his best to recover from the incident. Dan seemed to understand the context behind his words, and continued responding to Phil's banter with cheerful remarks and playful insults.

And it was at this moment that Phil realised how good of an actor Dan was.

"Ok Dan, hold still while I put this on you."

It was as if nothing had happened between them. Although Phil was doing his best to avoid his friend's eyes as he applied the bronzer onto his skin, there was nothing noticeably awkward between the two of them on camera. The issue was though, it was a completely different story from either of their perspectives in the moment.

Phil couldn't help but notice the exaggerated smiles Dan was now pulling; the fake laughter he was now forcing. He just didn't understand it. How had a single, minor event affected their dynamic so badly?

"Eyeshadow next, Danny," Phil told him, attempting to bring some natural light back to their conversation. "What colour do you want?"

At this question, Dan smiled simply. He knew the answer, but was pretending to make a decision on the spot. For what reason, Phil couldn't be sure. All he knew was that his own expression at that point in time had somehow brightened Dan's mood as a broad grin spread across his face in utter trust.

"Anything that you think would look good on me."

Phil could have sworn Dan had forgotten about the camera in the room. Dan was staring at him with these wide, wondrous eyes that betrayed the attitude he'd had only minutes before, and his smile. It wasn't forced this time. It was real; genuine. And while Phil had seen it many times before, somehow witnessing it after their awkward hand brush made him feel honoured to have somewhat helped Dan make it real again. Even if the occurrence had been as minor as an accidental touch of fingers.

And all of a sudden, a warm, fuzzy feeling erupted from within him. Phil couldn't stop the flood of emotions as he gazed at Dan in a whole new light; one that radiated brilliance and true beauty from someone he never expected to be associated with those things. It was like he was seeing Dan for the first time. Not a 'best friend' version of his flatmate that he had engrained in his mind, but the real, true Dan that had only really started to show earlier that year.

"Phil?" Dan whispered so quietly that it almost wasn't picked up on the recording.

"Yeah?" Phil replied just as softly.

"Are you gonna pick a colour or what?"

A teasing smile broke out on Dan's face as Phil hurriedly opened the eyeshadow container and chose a colour at random; the unplanned shade turning out to be a smoky dark brown that somewhat matched Dan's dyed hair.

"Ohhh Phil. How did you know that was the exact colour I wanted?" Dan asked sarcastically as he winked at the camera.

"It's because I have psychic powers!" Phil replied cheerily, applying the brown powder to a small padded brush. "Ok, close your eyes Danny."

"Stop calling me 'Danny'," he told Phil, closing his eyes as he did so.

He felt the gentle stroke of the brush press against his eyelid, but surprisingly he found the action soothing rather than uncomfortable. He could only imagine what he was going to look like by the end of the video, and he hoped Phil was trying his best to make him look at least decent, as he was secretly enjoying the makeover much more than he told himself he should be.

"Nearly done..." Phil murmured to no one in particular, the soft strokes on his eyelids finished near the far corner of his eye.

"Ok, you can open your eyes now."

As Dan slowly opened his eyes, he felt some of the eyeshadow drop into his eye and he nearly lifted his hand up to itch it before Phil grabbed it in midair.

And if their previous accidental touch hadn't been awkward enough, they both dared do nothing as Phil continued to hold Dan's hand with a loose grip, as if he was unsure he could really release Dan from his grasp without his face turning into a tomato.

It turned out that he couldn't.

Phil was blushing madly and keeping his gaze downcast while Dan pulled his arm back and stared at his hand in awe; it was like he was suddenly hypnotised by it. Both boys kept their line of sight away from each other as they recovered from yet another awkward encounter in the space of one video.

Maybe filming this video had been a mistake. Phil knew that although he enjoyed making content for their channels immensely, if the dynamic between him and Dan remained as tense as it was now long after the video had been recorded, he knew that their entire friendship might hang in the balance of them communicating properly and sorting out this new... issue that had wedged itself between them.

"You were going to smudge the eyeshadow if you'd rubbed your eyes," Phil said as he tried to explain his questionable course of action to Dan, who simply sighed to himself quietly while Phil thought over the position they were in.

The best thing to do in this moment was to probably continue on with filming the video, and then have a proper discussion about their recent behaviours when their minds weren't focused on doing other things.

"Ok Dan! Time for the mascara!"

Dan detected his slight change in tone, and noticed his fingers tapping anxiously against his thigh. He didn't mention it to Phil.

They remained near silent as Phil continued applying Dan's makeup, and it wasn't until Phil was getting ready to put on the lipstick last when Dan finally spoke up.

"Are you seriously going to use bright red lipstick?"

He was joking, as the underlying smile he gave Phil assured him that, and somehow that specific question made something click between the two of them. A single sentence was all it took for Dan and Phil to return to their previous demeanours.

"Well, why not?"

Dan gaped his mouth open and blinked harshly before staring blatantly at Phil.

"Does my face really look like it could pull off red lipstick? Like, come on. Have you seen this moon-shaped face?"

As if to exaggerate his point, he puffed out his cheeks that now had a light dusting of blush and held the face for a moment before stifling a laugh.

The happiness was short lived, however, for then Dan cast his eyes at the camera lens to try to appeal to his viewers as a sudden realisation hit him.

"Phil?"

"Ya?"

"Does my makeup match my aesthetic? And please tell me you didn't go overboard with the eyeshadow..."

There was a pause while Phil thought over the ridiculousness of Dan's question, and he couldn't help the giggle that escaped his lips as he looked at his handiwork on Dan's face.

"Don't worry Dan, I didn't ruin your precious aesthetic."

That earned Phil a gentle smack on the arm accompanied with the word, "Spork".

Phil giggled childishly as he tried to finish his sentence. "If anything, I enhanced it."

"I'm sure you did, Phil. Now, please put the bright red lipstick away and go for a more natural colour, yeah?"

"Alright..." Phil agreed, pretending to be annoyed.

The next few minutes were spent carefully angling the light pink lipstick onto Dan's lips so that they wouldn't smudge horribly and ruin Phil's good work, and fortunately for them their attention to detail payed off as Phil looked at the final result. Or rather, admired it.

"So, how do I look, Phil? Nearly as good as Jennifer Lawrence?"

Phil gulped silently and replied with, "Better," before he realised that wasn't the answer Dan was looking for. He quickly shoved his focus onto the floor and refused to look Dan in the eye, even though he could feel his friend's stare piercing through his peripheral vision. This would be yet another moment in the video that they would have to edit out. Why couldn't they just be themselves in this video?

What had changed between them?

"S-So Phil, um, what style have you gone for when you were applying my makeup?"

He knew Dan was trying his best to keep the momentum of the video going. It wasn't Dan's fault that Phil was stupid and couldn't keep his mouth shut. So he kept acting, despite the awkwardness.

"I-I went for a natural kind of appeal, so like your eyes are now highlighted by this eyeshadow I put on and your lips are kind of... smoother, I guess? And to top it all off, your dyed hair colour really makes the whole look work."

Phil stopped himself before he began rambling, but it was obvious to Dan that he couldn't help himself sometimes. He earned a soft smile from his friend as he looked at their audience, and Phil suddenly felt awful because he had completely forgotten about their fans. They would be able to tell in a heartbeat if something was off between the two of them, and he felt that it was his fault that their friendship had gotten as awkward as it was on camera. So he silently told himself to forget about this issue that had popped out of nowhere, and to just be Dan and Phil. That was all their audience needed.

"Well, thanks Phil for all of those compliments! I actually felt my self-esteem rise from the ashes for a moment before it quickly plummeted after realising how meaningless our lives are..."

Phil dramatically sighed aloud at Dan's statement. "Now's not the time for an existential crisis, Dan, as you have my makeup to do now!"

"Wait, am I not allowed to see myself yet?"

Smiling cheekily, Phil nodded in response. "Yep! We'll look at ourselves after you've done me."

He could have sworn he heard Dan mutter, "You motherfucker," under his breath at Phil's sudden decision, but nevertheless he progressed without complaint at starting the application of Phil's makeup.

He did the eyeshadow first. Dan had a fair idea of what he was going to do for Phil, as he'd recently seen an image on Tumblr of a girl wearing pretty makeup that he thought would've looked nice on Phil; that was, if Phil was actually interested in that kind of stuff. At the time he'd never thought in his wildest dreams that he'd get to use the style on Phil, but now that he was doing it, everything was coming together rather magnificently. Better than he could have hoped for.

Truth be told, Dan himself felt a bit guilty for the actions he'd done against Phil, whether they were intentional or not. The first one being the act of dying Phil's hair back to its original colour. He knew Phil hadn't exactly laughed when he'd dyed it ginger, and afterwards he realised how idiotic it was of him to force Phil to keep that hair colour for as long as it remained, when it wasn't even clear if Phil was alright with the prank in the first place.

The second action he felt guilty of was when he brushed off Phil's compliment on his hair later on in that video. Looking back on it, Dan couldn't believe he'd just shoved the kind words aside and ignored them for the rest of the recording until Phil mentioned to him that their fans shouldn't change the way they act around each other, and the worst part about that was that he was absolutely right.

Hindsight was a wondrous thing. But at the same time, Dan considered it torturous. He could remember every time Phil had complimented him, or had replied to him with a sweet remark, only for him to sweep it aside and forget he'd ever said it in the first place. And the small amount of guilt he felt earlier had now escalated beyond comprehension as he realised a major mistake he'd been making in his day to day life for years.

He'd barely acknowledged any of Phil's compliments, or returned any of them to Phil. And the raging guilt he felt now was nothing in comparison to earlier.

He found himself lost in his thoughts as he continued applying the makeup onto Phil's skin. He hadn't even noticed that he was finished until Phil smiled broadly at his accomplishment and whispered, "How do I look?"

It was as if a mask had been taken off his eyes as he truly viewed Phil for the first time in his new appearance. The light blue tinge to the eyeshadow highlighted Phil's eyes immensely, and the small amount of blush he'd used now seemed to accentuate the natural pink on Phil's cheeks that appeared whenever he was bashful or embarrassed.

And at that particular point in time, Phil's cheeks were blazing red.

Obviously, he felt slightly uncomfortable. Phil kept fidgeting with his fingers and tapping his foot in an anxious manner, leaving Dan to believe that he should do something, quickly, about his friend's discomfort. It was the least he could do, after all, as he'd dismissed so many of Phil's comments like they were leaves in a strong breeze rather than precious diamonds among the rough.

"Phil, you look... stunning. And I mean it."

Dan could visibly see Phil's surprised reaction to the comment, and Dan honestly couldn't blame him. The sudden thought of their audience see this moment on camera terrified him for a moment though, until he came to the conclusion that he shouldn't care about their judgements.

That was the moment when he finally became himself on camera. Not 'danisnotonfire', or some other online persona, but rather just 'Dan Howell'.

It had to be one of the highest points of his life.

"Like seriously Phil, I didn't know how pretty your eyes would look with that shade of eyeshade. It really brings out the blue of your iris."

"T-Thanks Dan!" Phil replied, trying miserably not to trip over his words.

"No problem! Can we look at ourselves now?"

Phil nodded in agreement and fetched the mirror they'd used to look at their hair when they'd dyed it about two weeks ago, and gasped aloud when he saw his reflection on the surface.

"Oh my God, Dan! You did such an amazing job!"

"Nothing but 'amazing' for 'AmazingPhil', am I right?"

Phil chuckled at the pun and stared at the mirror, mesmerised by his own appearance. While Phil did this, Dan politely waited beside him to view his own new look. He was attempting his best to not creepily gaze at his friend, but that proved to be quite a difficult task when Phil parted his lips slightly to view the pale lipstick Dan had chosen to give him.

When Phil eventually handed the small mirror over to Dan, he muttered, "Sorry for the wait," under his breath, as if he was ashamed of looking at his own reflection for so long.

Dan simply patted his shoulder understandingly and whispered, "You don't need to apologise," as he gently took the mirror out of Phil's grasp. As he was doing this, their fingers overlapped for a moment before they both froze like statues in place. Unlike the previous accidental touches in the video though, there was no awkward silence or uncertainty about the situation this time. Instead, there was a mutual understanding that something was different; that something had changed between them.

They slowly brought their hands back into their own personal space and allowed Dan to admire his reflection for a minute as he gave thousands of compliments towards Phil for the fabulous job he'd done on him. The smoky eyeshadow was not as harsh as Dan had expected it to be, and looked rather appealing in his opinion as he compared it to what he looked like without makeup. The highlighter and bronzer Phil had used somehow made his cheekbones sleek instead of invisible, and he had to tell himself that the mascara that brought out his brown eyes tricked his mind into thinking that he was actually cute for once.

"Phil, maybe opening Dan and Phil's spa had been a good idea after all."

He'd intended on it being seen as a joke, but the more Dan thought about the sentence, the more he realised that it was a metaphor for filming the series of beauty product videos in the first place. They had thought multiple times throughout filming that making these videos might have been a mistake; they had never brought it up with each other, but it was evident between them that they both had similar views on the situation. However, they had kept filming. For whatever reason, they weren't sure.

All they knew was that it hadn't been a mistake in the slightest.

They finished recording the video with a quick "Bye guys!" before beginning to pack the makeup away; a new atmosphere making itself apparent in the room. There were things left unsaid. Neither of them had the courage to speak up about them, though.

That was until they both reached out to grab the liquid eyeliner.

Phil swiftly grabbed the small bottle before their hands could touch, but Dan had had enough of these encounters and decided to finally say something about it.

"What's happening to us, Phil?"

The silence was suffocating. Dan had finally addressed the elephant in the room, but neither of them had the heart to tell the other that things seemed to have changed between them.

Phil struggled not to cry.

"Phil?"

"I don't know, I don't know... I wish I did, Dan, but- I just don't know..."

He was about to say something, Dan knew it. But Phil, being Phil, would do anything in his power to keep their friendship afloat; even if it was already sinking into murky depths.

Dan sighed aloud to himself. Not because he was frustrated, but rather because it filled the sickening silence in Phil's room.

"Why can't we act normally anymore? We can't even have a conversation without an incredibly awkward moment-"

Phil sniffled. Dan abruptly stopped talking and hugged his best friend dearly in fear of losing him, and the special bond they shared. He felt a single tear drip onto his collarbone, and Dan tightened the embrace when he felt Phil shudder next to him.

"Phil..."

"I'm fine. Just confused, that's all."

Clearly there was something else bothering him for Phil to get so emotional about it.

"What's confusing?"

He screwed his eyes shut and drew a shaky breath as he tried to compose himself. "Our friendship, I guess... I don't know what to think anymore."

Dan took a moment to process what Phil was saying before replying to his statement. "Well, do you want to talk about it? Maybe we can fix... us."

"Yeah. Yeah, let's try it," Phil responded, his eyes no longer shedding tears.

"Ok. Well, um, why do you think our friendship has changed, for lack of a better word?"

Phil tilted his head up to the ceiling and breathed out slowly, as if he knew this question was coming but refused to believe it would actually be asked. He didn't look at Dan while he answered the question, but it was obvious as to why he did so.

"I think... I think my perspective on us changed. I think I changed."

In an almost unheard whisper, Phil added, "I'm the reason we're like this."

"Well, w-what about your perspective? What changed and why did it change?"

Phil knew that Dan wasn't exactly a psychologist, but it was doing wonders for his thoughts as he heard a familiar voice ask him questions he'd never answered honestly to himself before. With every question, Phil felt a little better. The only issue was, now that they were on this track, he feared that the biggest question he'd asked himself recently without a definite answer would be one that Dan would ask, and he didn't think he was ready for it.

He didn't think he could ever be ready for it.

"I guess my perception of our friendship changed a lot this year because we've changed. We're not exactly in our early twenties anymore, and... Dan, you've changed."

He couldn't have hoped for a worse reaction as he visibly saw Dan's face drop in dejection.

"I don't mean in a bad way! I love the changes you've brought about to yourself. The curly hair and this newborn confidence have to be my favourite differences from the 'Old Dan'."

Just as quickly as the frown had appeared, a small smile made its way onto Dan's face as he heard Phil's opinion on his personal changes.

"It was only up until recently I started noticing how big these changes were. Like how you weren't afraid to speak your mind anymore, and how you've embraced your natural hair after so, so long, and just how you've become a better person."

Dan was madly blushing now. He was keeping his head low, but the red on his cheeks couldn't be hidden, no matter how badly he tried to.

"And honestly, I think the reason I'm being so awkward around you is because... I'm rediscovering you as a person."

It felt right to shuffle in closer to Dan, as if there was an invisible rope gently tugging him towards his flatmate, his best friend, his 'New Dan'.

Their thighs were now touching. Dan felt his side press up against Phil's, and there was an odd comfort in knowing that he was there, right next to him. He could hear Phil's breaths next to him, and practically feel the aura around them change from confused to understanding.

Phil understood everything now.

"Did I ever tell you how pretty you are in makeup, Dan?" Phil whispered, his face mere inched from Dan's. "It suits you."

Dan could feel his blush intensifying as Phil leaned in even closer to Dan, their eyes locked onto each other and each other alone. Phil lifted his hand to Dan's head and titled it sideways so that he was now completely facing him, and slowly leaned forward so that their noses were touching.

"I think I've finally realised why I like you so much Dan."

Phil hovered his face a centimetre away from Dan's as he whispered one last sentence.

"It's because you're a beautiful person, on the outside, and inside."

Phil leant in, and gently pressed his lips against Dan's; feeling the lipstick from their makeovers smudging ever so slightly in the process. He relished in this moment as he felt a thousand different emotions at once, each one impossible to describe as there were no words he knew of that could convey the passion and fire he felt in his soul as he kissed Dan. His breath was stolen from him when he couldn't believe that he was actually kissing Daniel James Howell, who he'd known for nearly eight years and had never felt so strongly about in the entire time that they'd known each other.

It was incredible what a few changes could do to a friendship.

After a few glorious seconds, Phil pulled away to see Dan's face frozen in time. Wait. Had Dan wanted this? Phil tried to remember if Dan had ever given consent for the kiss,  and suddenly his breath stopped as he failed to recall a moment in which Dan gave him permission to kiss him.

Of course Phil had screwed up.

"Oh my God Dan! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have just kissed you, and I've just ruined our friendship now because of -"

"Calm down, Phil!"

Staring blankly at Dan, Phil told himself to take a deep breath. Dan only chuckled to himself at his friend's dramatic reaction.

"I was just surprised, that's all."

"Oh."

"So," Dan continued, "you really like me that way? Even after what, eight years of knowing each other?"

Thinking about it like that, Phil did consider it mildly hilarious that it took him so long to really know the person that was Dan Howell.

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, I know I do. That kiss was..."

He struggled to come up with one word that could describe something as precious as that kiss he'd shared with Dan, as it was unlike anything else he'd ever experienced before.

"That kiss was...?" Dan urged him to finish his sentence, a knowing smile appearing on his face.

Phil returned the smile happily. "It was beautiful, Dan. Just like you."

"Ok, now you need to stop being so sappy otherwise I'm going to cry."

"Well, I already have cried..."

"But there's nothing new with that."

"Hey!"

"What? I'm just saying!"

"Of course you are."

A content silence passed between them, a nice change from the awkward ones they'd been getting used to. But there was still one thing Phil had to address before he could truly be content with his dynamic with Dan.

"But seriously, I meant what I said earlier. I like you, Dan. And it took me way too long to realise that, but now that I finally have... I'm wondering if you even feel the same?"

Dan was staring at Phil like he couldn't believe what he was asking. Phil took this as his cue for apologising for the horrendous question, but before he could open his mouth a pair of lips were gently pressing against his.

The chaste kiss only lasted for a second before Dan pulled away with a wicked grin on his lips.

"Does that answer your question, you dork?"


End file.
